Apple Awarded A Patent For Facial Recognition And Detection Technology

In the coming years, facial recognition and detection technology could be used to unlock, and perform tasks on, Apple devices. This could result in a more secure and productive user experience.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Apple with U.S. Patent No. 8,600,120 for “Personal computing device control using face detection and recognition.” The technology describes a three-point system: a face detection decision application; a face recognition application; and an input/output control application.
Working together, these components can detect whether a user is authorized to use a device. If so, certain functions are activated within the computing environment.
As noted in the patent:

The invention, in various embodiments, addresses deficiencies in the prior art by providing systems, methods and devices that enable a personal computing device to detect the presence of at least one user, without the need for receiving active user input information, and control certain device operations depending on whether a user is present.